Maternal mortality is a crisis in the United States of America, especially for Black women. No amount of health or education or money seems to be enough to make Black women safe in pregnancy and childbirth. Neither does physical fitness, as Olympic track legend Allyson Felix highlights in a recent piece reacting to the death of her former teammate Tori Bowie.

Maternal mortality is a crisis in the United States of America, especially for Black women. No amount of health or education or money seems to be enough to make Black women safe in pregnancy and childbirth. Neither does physical fitness, as Olympic track legend Allyson Felix highlights in a recent piece reacting to the death of her former teammate Tori Bowie. Bowie anchored the gold medal-winning women’s 4x100 relay team at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won individual silver and bronze medals at the same Olympics. The next year, she won the world championship in the 100 meters. When she died last month, the cause was childbirth complications, according to her autopsy. Bowie died alone at home, apparently while undergoing labor, with respiratory distress and eclampsia contributing to her death. Maternal mortality is a crisis in the United States of America, especially for Black women. No amount of health or education or money seems to be enough to make Black women safe in pregnancy and childbirth. Neither does physical fitness, as Olympic track legend Allyson Felix highlights in a recent piece reacting to the death of her former teammate Tori Bowie. Bowie anchored the gold medal-winning women’s 4x100 relay team at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won individual silver and bronze medals at the same Olympics. The next year, she won the world championship in the 100 meters. When she died last month, the cause was childbirth complications, according to her autopsy. Bowie died alone at home, apparently while undergoing labor, with respiratory distress and eclampsia contributing to her death.